Eutelsat is seeing “strong progress” in its OneWeb Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-based inflight connectivity business, with antenna installations having increased sixfold and its aircraft backlog up 50% since the end of June.

As of 31 December 2025, OneWeb partners had completed almost 600 aero antenna installations to support the LEO service out of a backlog of more than 1,500 aircraft, Eutelsat disclosed in its fiscal 2025/26 first-half earnings report. Six months earlier, installations stood at 100 and the backlog was 1,000 aircraft.

“We knew that once we got to a certain critical level of global coverage then it would unblock the pipeline for aero, and this is what you’re beginning to see,” Eutelsat management told analysts on its recent 1H earnings call, during which the European satellite operator announced that LEO connectivity revenues in the six months ended 31 December 2025 were up almost 60% year-on-year, on a like-for-like basis. By contrast, connectivity revenue from Eutelsat’s geostationary (GEO) satellites declined 4.5% in the same period. 

Revenues from the OneWeb LEO business, which supports clients across the mobility, enterprise and government segments, now represents about a fifth of Eutelsat’s overall sales. LEO also accounts for “over one-third” of Eutelsat’s connectivity revenue, chief executive Jean-François Fallacher said during the call. OneWeb boasts several service distribution partners in civil aviation, including Hughes Network Systems, Gogo, SES (formerly Intelsat) and Panasonic Avionics. Spanish digital services firm Immfly last month announced it intends to power OneWeb LEO-only IFC service for airlines.

Eutelsat’s LEO momentum received a further boost earlier this month when it secured a near-EUR 1 billion ($1.18 billion) state-backed loan through France’s Export Credit Agency (ECA) to fund 340 additional Low Earth Orbit satellites it recently ordered for the OneWeb constellation from Airbus Defence and Space. The EUR 975 million loan will also finance another 100 LEO satellites that Eutelsat had previously ordered from Airbus. The French government holds a 29.65% stake in Eutelsat, making it the company’s largest shareholder.

“With financing secured and operational continuity assured, we can look forward with confidence as we focus on our growth strategy, based on the development of our LEO business,” says Fallacher.

However, it has not all been good news for the company. In January, the French government blocked Eutelsat’s plan to sell off its ground antenna assets to private equity firm EQT for EUR 550 million. France’s finance minister, Roland Lescure, said on French television station TF1 that the infrastructure is a strategic asset used for civil and military communication, and that “Eutelsat is the only European competitor to Starlink.”

Fallacher describes the decision as “disappointing” but says it will have no impact on Eutelsat’s ability to finance its strategic development plan. 

Paris-based Eutelsat competes with SpaceX’s Starlink LEO IFC solution in the aero market, though the latter serves the market directly as opposed to OneWeb’s B2B approach. In 2024, it lost out to SpaceX when French flag carrier Air France announced it had opted to equip its entire fleet with the Starlink service.

Fallacher did not name any potential new airline customers during the call, but he did reference ongoing talks with French rail operator SNCF, which is looking to equip its trains with satellite-based connectivity: “We are in discussions with SNCF. It’s much too early to say but they’ve announced there will be an RFP some time this year for equipment on French trains.”  

Outside the mobility vertical, Fallacher says the company is considering selling space to others on its newly ordered LEO satellites as another potential revenue stream.

“In the satellites we have purchased from Airbus, we have built an option to embark on what we call hosted payloads,” he says. “This is some physical space we have on these satellites that allows us to take an additional payload…so we could have people doing some kind of monitoring, or scientific or military payloads.” He adds that “we are now selling this to a number of space and new space actors.”

Eutelsat remains in the red but saw its operating loss narrow by 85% to EUR 118.2 million in the first half of fiscal 2025/26.

Related Articles:

• How Telesat plans to differentiate in LEO with Lightspeed
• Immfly targets budget airlines with OneWeb LEO IFC, Gogo antenna
• Japan Airlines taps LEO IFC for 787-9, eyes AIX reveal
• Eutelsat touts big LEO revenue growth, new South American airline deal
• SES flags risk when airlines ‘hand over the keys’ to Starlink
• Hughes positions newly acquired Anderson as hub for rapid prototyping 
• SES targets thousands of tails for IFC partnership model
• French state to double stake in Eutelsat as LEO momentum clear

Featured image credited to Eutelsat